Winter Break

Grandma Sally went all-out and cooked another Thanksgiving Dinner! It was delicious!! Brooke really loves turkey, so Grandma Sally got a special hug for all her work.

One morning when Brooke had the sniffles, Olivia made breakfast (banana, cheerios, grapes and water) and left it on the floor outside Brooke's door before she left for school. (Brooke was sleeping late.) The note says, "Love you, Princiss!" One minute they are trying to kill each other, and the next minute they're in love...

Olivia's after-school art class presented the school with the winter mural they had made. First, they made an appearance on the school's morning TV show, and then they attended the actual presentation ceremony in the cafeteria.

The next week (last week) was Winter Break. It was a special treat when Aunt Carol called and invited the girls out to the horse farm to ride Phoenix. They were beside themselves. And the weather was great. What a nice break after all the ice and snow!

Daddy relaxing with the three mutts...

A playdate with Abby and her twin brothers! (We made it out to a park all but one day.)

There's a great hill at the park, so we always take along cardboard to slide on...

Maybe when Mark retires, he can open a doggie pedicure shop?

We also went to the zoo! It only cost $20 more than the regular family admission to buy a Family Pass for the rest of the year, so we went for that option. It was really nice going last week, because the Fulton County schools were NOT on vacation and we had the place to ourselves, plus the weather was still fantastic.

I love the little pink knees and feet on the flamingos.

These are meerkats. They are adorable. One guy (greyish) was totally zonked, catching some rays, when the other meerkat (brownish) came and laid down right on top of him. The one on the bottom didn't care at all. They are even lazier than the Bostons.

I have a pictuire of Olivia when she was about 18 months old, sitting on this very giraffe. One day I'll have to find it and post them together.

Olivia and Brooke with the Willie B. statue. Brooke was very nervous until she realized he was not real.

While we were in the gorilla observatory, the gorillas went crazy, literally running to the side of the observatory. Turns out the handlers were making a visit and had treats. There is just plexiglass between the handlers and the public, so we were able to get pictures of the gorillas interacting with the handlers. Neat-o!

I was happy to get this picture! Momma and baby...

My little monkeys!!

I just know this orangutan was saying, "Man, stupid tourists all day long..." Either that or he had a headache...

The tiger came all the way up to the window we were standing at, turned around and "marked" his territory. I would have gotten a good close-up picture of him, but Olivia had flung herself back from the window, right into me.

Can't forget the pandas! Daddy panda was in one area, just hanging around.

Momma panda was in the other area which leads into the panda house. She was banging to get inside, because she knew they were putting out all the fresh bamboo and treats. Baby was safe and sound inside that day.

Lazy kangaroos at the end of the day...

And then we got to what the girls had been whining for the entire time - the kid's playpark. Next time we'll do it first and have a happier tour of the zoo.

Riding the train. Olivia wanted to sit by herself and then got scared by the whistle.

But not Brooke...

Brooke, Olivia and Mark standing by the cannon Mark wants in the front yard. Yeah... maybe for Father's Day...

We forced the girls to ride their bikes a couple times during vacation, but I haven't had the chance to download the few pictures I got. There are only a few because I spent the entire time holding onto Olivia - who was conviced that the bicycle is simply a tool of death. If driving a bicycle is this hard for her, we'll never have to worry about her driving a car. We'll save a TON of insurance $$! Brooke on the other hand... daddy had to run after her more than once, frantically grabbing for the back of her shirt as she fearlessly wizzed down a hill... on the other hand, maybe we'll need Olivia's insurance money for Brooke...

Brooke got ahold of the hair-boo-boo bag and went to town. And then had a peanut butter sandwich.

Some of Olivia's recent artwork...

Breakfast and Sickly Brooke

Mark and the girls attended the "Father Child Breakfast" at Olivia's school on Saturday. They all came home stuffed. The girls wanted coffee, but settled for apple juice.



Our Boston, Lucy. She always tries to hide her face when she sleeps. This time, she climbed onto Mark's shoulder and tucked herself into his neck.


Yesterday was gorgeous - like Spring!! The girls played outside and had a ball. Brooke loved it.

And here she is this morning - coughing and feverish with a snotty nose, staying home from school. She is in her "office", under the computer desk. So much for Spring...

Brooke's Valentine's Dance

First, here is a new silk outfit I found for the girls at the Thrift Store! You just never know what you'll find there. It is a little big for Olivia, which is perfect because they'll both get years of use out of it. It has beautiful golden flowers all over it.

Brooke was FURIOUS when I put it on Olivia first. She demanded to wear it, no matter how big.

Next, meet our friendly "pet" squirrel. The girls got into the dried corn on the cob I had in a bag on the deck and shucked it all over the deck and surrounding lawn. I explained to them that this was bad because 1.) we don't want squirrels running around (or in) the house and 2.) we don't want the Bostons to pop out the pet door and grab a squirrel (crunch!). They were disappointed, but understand now. So, until the remaining corn is gone, this little guy comes regularly to help clean up.

Olivia reading, with the coffee (ick) daddy made for her. (3 parts cream and sugar, 1 part coffee) She is in Kindergarten and can read an entire Junie B. chapter book in one hour. Her Aunt Linda will be proud.

Last week, Brooke's pre-school had their annual Valentine's Dance. They always have a 50's theme and the kids get to make their own ice cream sundaes as a treat. Brooke wore the poodle skirt I made for Olivia 2 years ago. We even curled her hair!

The kids went bananas. All that energy!!!

Siblings were welcome, so Olivia dressed up and danced (bounced), too. The little girl in blue jeans next to Brooke is Ella, her classmate in our Chinese class.

You can't have a kids' dance party without doing a "train"!

Ice cream for everyone! I stupidly let brooke put chocolate syrup on her ice cream. Of course it ended up on her beautiful little pink sweater with the satin-and-beaded white poodle before the night was thru. Sigh...

Brooke found one of her classmates there, Ben. They were very excited to find each other. Check out those rosey cheeks! Dancing is a workout.

What good sisters!!

And here's a snap of what I hope is our very last snow for 2011. Thankfully it was only decorative and melted on the roads.

They Found the Other Hat!

Whew! Here are BOTH my girls in their hats. Quite beautiful, I think!

Happy Chinese (Lunar) New Year!!

Happy Chinese New Year! (Shin yen qui lur!) We're trying to do more to celebrate this year, so we got decorations, made dumplings, gave the girls red envelopes (filled with treats and some $), and are attending a CNY party at Georgia Tech on Saturday. I was the guest reader in Olivia's kindergarten class today, so I turned it into a mini CNY lesson. The kids really seemed to like it. They loved the pictures of the Lion and Dragon Dancers.

Here's Brooke in her Emperor hat. I know it's for boys, but I think she look so cute in it! I got one for Olivia, too, and she promptly lost it. It's in the house, but we can't find it anywhere. I can just see it - 6 months from now, we'll pull it out from under something...

The most tasty part of CNY is the dumplings!! I rolled and cut the dough and the girls stuffed them. Brooke becomes very protective of the dumplings even before they are boiled. Notice how she's watching Olivia...

We could eat dumplings every day!

And on a side note - here's what's on our deck right now. Compared to what they are getting up North, we have it lucky, but I didn't expect this today!

Have a happy, healthy and prosperous Year of the Rabbit!!!! Wish us luck as we begin mandarin lessons for the girls and me. The teacher's name is Heidi (ha!) and she lives at the rear of our subdivision. You just never know who's living right around the corner!

More Snow Pics

Well, it's Wednesday and we are still sitting at home. No school tomorrow. I think we can write-off this week. Our street is clear because another neighbor and I actually shoveled the road yesterday. Things had started to soften up and we grabbed our chance, scraping off one clear lane up our hill. The kids are loving it, of course, and we haven't gotten on each other's nerves anymore than we typically do! Here are a few more snow pics for Grandma Helen!

Jingle is quite large by Boston Terrier standards. She was up to her chest and hopping around the yard. She seems to really enjoy the snow!

Brooke LOVES to throw snowballs. She is not shy at all about getting close enough to make sure she hits her target (me). Notice her little red elf nose.

After getting a good chill outside, the girls took every pillow in the house (no exaggeration, since I discovered even our sleeping pillows in there) and made a "nest" in the sunroom for their afternoon nap (which, of course, they never actually took).

We made cupcakes in the afternoon. Olivia was supposed to be decorating, but I caught her eating the goods!

Olivia likes to decorate for a little while, but her attention soon wanders. Brooke, on the other hand, can be quite focused and meticulous. She made most of these, entirely on her own - no interference from momma. There was as much decoration on the counter and floor as on the cupcakes, but it was worth it. She had such fun!

Back out right before sunset for some sledding in the front yard (hill). (Notice the slant of our driveway? That's what Mark slid down sideways in his quest to get to work during the last ice storm.)

Olivia loved yanking up hunks of ice (crust) to throw and shatter. I've posted a video at the end of this entry which shows her sledding.

Playing in the snow, no nap, making cupcakes, and more playing in the snow makes for one tired little girl. After dinner she crashed in Daddy's recliner.

The next day (Tuesday)? Yup - more playing in the snow. They pulled out their sand toys and played safely in the yard while I shoveled the street, making it go easy and fast. After a delicious lunch of the fresh, homemade chicken noodle soup Daddy left for us, more sledding and playing with the neighbor kids! Olivia had her first official snowball fight!

I love this picture!!!! After this, we all went inside and had the traditional snack of hot cocoa and cupcakes.

Today (Wednesday) we stayed in and thawed out. The girls made art projects with some of their Christmas gift kits and mommy washed the hardwood floors (whoo-hoo.) The big excitement was when Daddy came home!!!!!! He's been at the brewey since Sunday night, so the girls were very excited to see him again. Brooke ran around screaming, "Now we can wrassle!!!!!" Poor Daddy did his best, but he was pooped from his time at work. He was relieved to sit and snuggle after a nice hot dinner of Shepherd's Pie.

Here is a video of Olivia sledding down the yard that first day (Monday). I don't know why it is so blurry, but it shows how fast and how far Olivia got using the neighbor's sled. She shoots down the yard, across the street and across the neighbor's driveway. Her little saucer just wouldn't travel as far.

Wow, Did It Snow!!!!

Welcome to Mugsy, Aunt Debbi's pug! He fits right in with the rest of the pups! (And yes, our tree is still up...)

The weathermen said we'd get snow! And they were right!! When I put the girls to bed, there was nothing going on. But when I looked out the window and hour later, I was astounded to see about 2 inches had fallen and it was coming down fast and heavy!!

The first round of playing in the snow!

And here's what it's done to our deck canopy... oops...

This is for Aunt Debbi and Uncle Duff as they while away their time for a few days in Florida at their new house. Their little guy has been the perfect house guest and even comes out in the snow with the girls!

More later! The clothes are in the dryer getting ready for sledding down the front yard...